Roo can do it! World Cup fans bet £10million on a Wayne Rooney winner

FANS have backed Wayne Rooney to the tune of £10million to break his hoodoo and fire England towards the World Cup knockout stages.

Fans in Rio yesterday are ready to see Rooney take charge [TIM CLARKE/PA]

As supporters began flooding into Sao Paulo for tonight’s crunch match against Uruguay, bookmakers revealed that the staggering sum has been wagered on the Manchester United striker to hit the target.

Alex Donohue, of Ladbrokes, said Rooney was the “most popular goal-scorer bet of all time”.

And he added: “England fans have given Wayne the ultimate vote of confidence.

"He will carry more of their cash to break his World Cup duck than ever before.”

The 28-year-old has so far failed to score in nine matches in the finals, including Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Italy.

But manager Roy Hodgson has ignored pressure to drop the out-of-form player and instead will return him to his favourite central striking role.

Rooney spent two hours yesterday with his wife Coleen, also 28, and their sons Kai, four, and Klay, 13 months, at the £600-a-night Fasano boutique hotel in Rio de Janeiro.

Her parents, Tony and Colette, plus her brother Anthony were despatched to the beach while the Rooneys caught up after nearly a month apart.

The biggest TV audience of the year in Britain, up to 24 million viewers, is expected to cheer on England.

Experts say beer sales could rocket 63 per cent as supporters drink 13 million pints in a £38million spree.

England fans have given Wayne the ultimate vote of confidence

Alex Donohue, of Ladbrokes

Around 3.5 million fans will pack Britain’s 48,000 pubs, the British Beer and Pub Association estimated.

And another 500,000 are expected to watch in bars, clubs, restaurants, workplaces and on big screens.

England against Italy on Saturday was the biggest at-home audience of the year so far at 15.6 million – but that game started three hours later than tonight’s 8pm kick-off.

In London, up to 10,000 fans will watch on giant screens at Saracens rugby club’s Allianz Park in north London – with 2,500 at Indigo at The O2 and hundreds in John Lewis’s Oxford Street roof garden, London.

Elsewhere, thousands will see the game in Leeds’ Millennium Square and on Brighton’s beach-front – with 3,500 at Manchester’s ITV Fever Pitch beach park and 2,000 at Newcastle’s O2 Academy.

A win tonight will put England back on track for World Cup glory – but defeat will see the nation’s dreams end in humiliating failure.

The Uruguay FA, beset with fan problems over the past few months, have promised their 26,000 supporters – massively out-numbering the 10,000 England followers in the 62,601-capacity Arena Corinthians tonight – will be “noisy but well-behaved”.

England’s players will be boosted by English-style weather in Sao Paulo, which is forecast to be an autumnal 57F (14C) and rain.

An English-style higher-tempo match is also expected as the weather means players will sprint twice as much, sweat 60 per cent less and run 20 per cent further than against Italy on Saturday in Manaus, research for drinks firm Lucozade Sport showed.